Habs' Gomez keeps playing … and playing … and playing

The Canadiens’ Scott Gomez, who went more than a year without scoring a goal and has only two goals and seven assists in 31 games this season, logged 17:03 of ice time in a 3-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on Feb. 21, including 3:19 on the power play.

In the same game, Lars Eller, who has 12-10-22 totals in 58 games, had 15:17 of ice time – none on the power play.

Gomez has 450 total minutes of ice time this season (including 75:12 on the power play), meaning he averages a goal every 225 minutes.

Eller has 858 total minutes of ice time (only 21:27 on the power play), meaning he averages a goal every 71 minutes.

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And you wonder why the Canadiens have been shut out seven times this season, including five times on home ice?

The Canadiens aren’t going to win the Stanley Cup this season – and probably won’t even make the playoffs. It might be time to see what some of the young players can do – especially on a power play, where the Canadiens rank 28th in the NHL with a 13.8 per cent success rate.

Louis Leblanc had only 9:34 of ice time in the loss to the Stars. The rookie has three goals and four assists in 252 minutes of ice time this season (only 1:23 on the power play), meaning he averages a goal every 84 minutes.

Meanwhile, former Canadiens defenceman Hal Gil picked up an assist for the Nashville Predators in a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 21, giving him 1-8-9 totals – the same number of points as Gomez.

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